September 30, 2007	Sunday	Ramazan 17, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Sept 29: The current account deficit shrank by $562 million to $1.434 billion in the first two months (July-August) of the current fiscal year as against $1.996 billion during the same period last year, says a fact sheet of the ministry of finance issued on Saturday.

As percentage of GDP the current account deficit in the first two months stood at 0.9pc of the projected GDP for the year as against 1.4pc in the corresponding period of last year.

According to the details, exports (on fob basis) have grown at an average rate of 6.7pc during the period under review amounting to $2.910bn. Imports on the other hand recorded a modest fall of 0.6pc totalling $4.624bn during the period.

The narrowing of trade deficit is the direct result of improvement in exports on the one hand and a marginal decline in imports on the other. The improvement in the trade balance during the period under consideration was an encouraging development and would have salutary impact on the country’s overall balance of payment.

Invisible balance maintained a surplus of $269 million as opposed to a deficit of $82 million in the same period last year. Private transfers also registered an improvement of 41pc or $588 million over the corresponding period last year.

Workers’ remittances also grew by over 21pc to $984m in the first two month of this fiscal year.